Wisdom Chapter 18

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 But thy saints had a very great light, and they heard their voice indeed, but did not see their shape. And because they also did not suffer the same things, they glorified thee:
2 And they that before had been wronged, gave thanks, because they were not hurt now: and asked this gift, that there might be a difference.
3 Therefore they received a burning pillar of fire for a guide of the way which they knew not, and thou gavest them a harmless sun of a good entertainment. A harmless sun... A light that should not hurt or molest them; but that should be an agreeable guest to them.
4 The others indeed were worthy to be deprived of light, and imprisoned in darkness, who kept thy children shut up, by whom the pure light of the law was to be given to the world.

5 And whereas they thought to kill the babes of the just: one child being cast forth, and saved to reprove them, thou tookest away a multitude of their children, and destroyedst them altogether in a mighty water. One child... Viz., Moses.
6 For that night was known before by our fathers, that assuredly knowing what oaths they had trusted to, they might be of better courage.
7 So thy people received the salvation of the just, and destruction of the unjust.
8 For as thou didst punish the adversaries so thou didst also encourage and glorify us.
9 For the just children of good men were offering sacrifice secretly, and they unanimously ordered a law of justice: that the just should receive both good and evil alike, singing now the praises of the fathers. Of good men... Viz., of the patriarchs. Their children, the Israelites, offered in private the sacrifice of the paschal lamb; and were regulating what they were to do in their journey, when that last and most dreadful plague was coming upon their enemies.
10 But on the other side there sounded an ill according cry of the enemies, and a lamentable mourning was heard for the children that were bewailed.
11 And the servant suffered the same punishment as the master, and a common man suffered in like manner as the king.
12 So all alike had innumerable dead, with one kind of death. Neither were the living sufficient to bury them: for in one moment the noblest offspring of them was destroyed. The noblest offspring... That is, the firstborn.
13 For whereas they would not believe any thing before by reason of the enchantments, then first upon the destruction of the firstborn, they acknowledged the people to be of God.
14 For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course,
15 Thy Almighty word leaped down from heaven from thy royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction,
16 With a sharp sword carrying thy unfeigned commandment, and he stood and filled all things with death, and standing on the earth, reached even to heaven.
17 Then suddenly visions of evil dreams troubled them, and fears unlooked for came upon them.
18 And one thrown here, another there, half dead, showed the cause of his death.
19 For the visions that troubled them foreshowed these things, lest they should perish, and not know why they suffered these evils.
20 But the just also were afterwards touched by an assault of death, and there was a disturbance of the multitude in the wilderness: but thy wrath did not long continue;
21 For a blameless man made haste to pry for the people, bringing forth the shield of his ministry, prayer, and by incense making supplication, withstood the wrath, and put an end to the calamity, showing that he was thy servant.
22 And he overcame the disturbance, not by strength of body nor with force of arms, but with a word he subdued him that punished them, alleging the oath and covenant made with the fathers.
23 For when they were now fallen down dead by heaps one upon another, he stood between and stayed the assault, and cut off the way to the living.
24 For in the priestly robe which he wore, was the whole world: and in the four rows of the stones, the glory of the fathers was graven, and thy majesty was written upon the diadem of his head.
25 And to these the destroyer gave place, and was afraid of them: for the proof only of wrath was enough.

Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Sanctis autem tuis maxima erat lux,
et horum quidem vocem audiebant, sed figuram non videbant.
Et quia non et ipsi eadem passi erant, magnificabant te;
2 et qui ante læsi erant, quia non lædebantur, gratias agebant,
et ut esset differentia, donum petebant.
3 Propter quod ignis ardentem columnam
ducem habuerunt ignotæ viæ,
et solem sine læsura boni hospitii præstitisti.
4 Digni quidem illi carere luce,
et pati carcerem tenebrarum,
qui inclusos custodiebant filios tuos,
per quos incipiebat incorruptum legis lumen sæculo dari.

5 Cum cogitarent justorum occidere infantes,
et uno exposito filio et liberato,
in traductionem illorum, multitudinem filiorum abstulisti,
et pariter illos perdidisti in aqua valida.
6 Illa enim nox ante cognita est a patribus nostris,
ut vere scientes quibus juramentis crediderunt,
animæquiores essent.
7 Suscepta est autem a populo tuo sanitas quidem justorum,
injustorum autem exterminatio.
8 Sicut enim læsisti adversarios,
sic et nos provocans magnificasti.
9 Absconse enim sacrificabant justi pueri bonorum,
et justitiæ legem in concordia disposuerunt;
similiter et bona et mala recepturos justos,
patrum jam decantantes laudes.
10 Resonabat autem inconveniens inimicorum vox,
et flebilis audiebatur planctus ploratorum infantium.
11 Simili autem pœna servus cum domino afflictus est,
et popularis homo regi similia passus.
12 Similiter ergo omnes, uno nomine mortis,
mortuos habebant innumerabiles:
nec enim ad sepeliendum vivi sufficiebant,
quoniam uno momento quæ erat præclarior
natio illorum exterminata est.
13 De omnibus enim non credentes, propter veneficia;
tunc vero primum cum fuit exterminium primogenitorum,
spoponderunt populum Dei esse.
14 Cum enim quietum silentium contineret omnia,
et nox in suo cursu medium iter haberet,
15 omnipotens sermo tuus de cælo, a regalibus sedibus,
durus debellator in mediam exterminii terram prosilivit,
16 gladius acutus insimulatum imperium tuum portans:
et stans, replevit omnia morte,
et usque ad cælum attingebat stans in terra.
17 Tunc continuo visus somniorum malorum turbaverunt illos,
et timores supervenerunt insperati.
18 Et alius alibi projectus semivivus,
propter quam moriebatur causam demonstrabat mortis.
19 Visiones enim quæ illos turbaverunt hæc præmonebant,
ne inscii quare mala patiebantur perirent.
20 Tetigit autem tunc et justos tentatio mortis,
et commotio in eremo facta est multitudinis:
sed non diu permansit ira tua.
21 Prosperans enim homo sine querela deprecari pro populis,
proferens servitutis suæ scutum,
orationem et per incensum deprecationem allegans,
restitit iræ, et finem imposuit necessitati,
ostendens quoniam tuus est famulus.
22 Vicit autem turbas non in virtute corporis,
nec armaturæ potentia:
sed verbo illum qui se vexabat subjecit,
juramenta parentum et testamentum commemorans.
23 Cum enim jam acervatim cecidissent super alterutrum mortui,
interstitit, et amputavit impetum,
et divisit illam quæ ad vivos ducebat viam.
24 In veste enim poderis quam habebat, totus erat orbis terrarum;
et parentum magnalia in quatuor ordinibus lapidum erant sculpta,
et magnificentia tua in diademate capitis illius sculpta erat.
25 His autem cessit qui exterminabat, et hæc extimuit:
erat enim sola tentatio iræ sufficiens.

Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition

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